Olly?s 1:12 Blog - Part 7
In part 7 of Olly's Blog, CML and Team Associated driver Olly Jefferies reports back from the 1/12th scale European Finals.
This year?s 1:12 EFRA Euros were on home ground for us Brits and although the race was not in my Associated programme of events it seemed silly not to give it a go. The R5 had been going well at the UK Nationals and the event offered me an opportunity to work closely with my Associated teammate Juho Levanen.
I collected Juho from the airport on Wednesday night and he spent the night at my place with Alice and myself. I also acted as chauffeur for him during his stay as this keeps the costs down for Associated and he will return the favour next time I race in Finland. Sponsors appreciate you working to keep the costs down when ever possible and we never take advantage of the Associated expense account.
Olly and Juho BFF.
I decided to concentrate on one class at the Euros, the modified class. I have tried running two classes before which is OK at a club race when you are testing. However, at this level, I personally find it easier to focus all my efforts on one class.
Straight away in practice we were looking good! Juho was quick and I was able to match his pace for most of the practice sessions. Early in qualifying we were 1-2, with Juho just having the edge.
I ran my car very much as I do at Nationals and I also deliberately did not change much with the car, concentrating more on driving the track than trying random set up changes. The only thing I really played with was additive and that was after a few tips from Juho. I ran almost the same car that I ran at the Maritime National. I made a few changes before the event as I had an idea of what the grip levels would be like on carpet.
I have spoke before about shimming the front suspension arms out, this worked really well at this race and Juho and I both used 2mm shims either side. This really helped the car, especially through the high-speed turns. I also used gold side spring; this made the car react a little better through the slower turns and helped stability at high speed, as the car would roll less.
When building my car for the event I found an excellent way of making sure the side spring retainers are straight. I used a 3mm drill bit and drilled into the spring retainer 1mm. This meant that the grub screw sets into the retainer before tightening. I found this helps keep the grub screw straight.
It was good to see Craig Drescher along for a social visit on Saturday and also for a few beers in the evening. Craig and I talk a lot on the phone and exchange a lot of e-mails regarding the Associated team but there is nothing better than chatting over dinner, with a large group, and having a laugh and a few pints.
Craig Drescher (eating as usual) shares his knowledge with the Associated Team.
The only person that looked to have the pace to challenge Juho and myself was Ronald Volker. He came close to taking FTD of Juho only to dump at the end of the run. In the last round he found the legs to make the eight minutes and just my luck he bumped me to third on the grid for the A final.
I was a little disappointed to drop to 3rd but after talking to Craig he gave some good advice on what my plan should be for the finals. I was also starting on the cleaner side of the track, all though it was the outside. I was pretty happy on Saturday night and felt even from third I had a chance of winning the event.
Tyres made a big difference as with any race. We found that magenta front and rear worked really well and this was what we ended up using for qualifying and finals. I did not change my tyre compound from start of qualifying to the end of finals. I think most of the field were on this compound.
I consider myself unlucky to be hit at the start of both the first and second leg of the A final, Ronald did not get away well on any of his three finals and I found myself having to back off hard in to turn 1 to avoid hitting him. This probably contributed to the incident that saw Simo hit me from behind in legs one and two.
I don?t think I could have challenged Juho and Ronald but I might have benefited from any mistakes they might have made. As it was all I could do was try and make up places.
The third final was better and I had an easy run to third in the final leg. This left me fifth in the rankings and top British driver which I was fairly happy with. I do feel I could have done better but I am sure there are be plenty of drivers that would have been happy to swap positions with me. I feel from this race I have more confidence going into the last National of the year. I also believe I can put what I have learnt with 12th scale into my touring car racing and find more speed from myself when we start the TC Nationals this year. I find 1/12th scale is really good for your driving, as you have to be very precise which, in turn, can be applied to any from of racing. I feel the 12th Nationals and the Euros have improved my driving and my approach to a race weekend.
Well done to Juho on winning the modified title, he is a great driver and never seems to get rattled by anything, the more I get to know him the more I learn from him, which is good for me with TC Euros and Worlds coming up later this year.
The Associated Team at the 1/12th Euro Finals.
Also very well done to my fellow Brit Chris Kerswell. Chris is always fast but sometimes not the most consistent, that weekend he kept it together and delivered a brilliant result so hats-off to him. Another big well done to Keith Robertson for third in the Spec Class A. Keith helped me a lot with my 1:12 racing when I first started and it was good to see him getting a top result. A few of my fellow countrymen struggled and will be happy to put this event behind them.
For me, overall I enjoyed the experience. It's made me decide to enter this years 1:12 Worlds! A whole new level of 1:12 racing to squeeze in too! Domestically its one more national and the R5 gets put into hibernation for the summer.
Olly and Juho BFF.
I decided to concentrate on one class at the Euros, the modified class. I have tried running two classes before which is OK at a club race when you are testing. However, at this level, I personally find it easier to focus all my efforts on one class.
Straight away in practice we were looking good! Juho was quick and I was able to match his pace for most of the practice sessions. Early in qualifying we were 1-2, with Juho just having the edge.
I ran my car very much as I do at Nationals and I also deliberately did not change much with the car, concentrating more on driving the track than trying random set up changes. The only thing I really played with was additive and that was after a few tips from Juho. I ran almost the same car that I ran at the Maritime National. I made a few changes before the event as I had an idea of what the grip levels would be like on carpet.
I have spoke before about shimming the front suspension arms out, this worked really well at this race and Juho and I both used 2mm shims either side. This really helped the car, especially through the high-speed turns. I also used gold side spring; this made the car react a little better through the slower turns and helped stability at high speed, as the car would roll less.
When building my car for the event I found an excellent way of making sure the side spring retainers are straight. I used a 3mm drill bit and drilled into the spring retainer 1mm. This meant that the grub screw sets into the retainer before tightening. I found this helps keep the grub screw straight.
It was good to see Craig Drescher along for a social visit on Saturday and also for a few beers in the evening. Craig and I talk a lot on the phone and exchange a lot of e-mails regarding the Associated team but there is nothing better than chatting over dinner, with a large group, and having a laugh and a few pints.
Craig Drescher (eating as usual) shares his knowledge with the Associated Team.
The only person that looked to have the pace to challenge Juho and myself was Ronald Volker. He came close to taking FTD of Juho only to dump at the end of the run. In the last round he found the legs to make the eight minutes and just my luck he bumped me to third on the grid for the A final.
I was a little disappointed to drop to 3rd but after talking to Craig he gave some good advice on what my plan should be for the finals. I was also starting on the cleaner side of the track, all though it was the outside. I was pretty happy on Saturday night and felt even from third I had a chance of winning the event.
Tyres made a big difference as with any race. We found that magenta front and rear worked really well and this was what we ended up using for qualifying and finals. I did not change my tyre compound from start of qualifying to the end of finals. I think most of the field were on this compound.
I consider myself unlucky to be hit at the start of both the first and second leg of the A final, Ronald did not get away well on any of his three finals and I found myself having to back off hard in to turn 1 to avoid hitting him. This probably contributed to the incident that saw Simo hit me from behind in legs one and two.
I don?t think I could have challenged Juho and Ronald but I might have benefited from any mistakes they might have made. As it was all I could do was try and make up places.
The third final was better and I had an easy run to third in the final leg. This left me fifth in the rankings and top British driver which I was fairly happy with. I do feel I could have done better but I am sure there are be plenty of drivers that would have been happy to swap positions with me. I feel from this race I have more confidence going into the last National of the year. I also believe I can put what I have learnt with 12th scale into my touring car racing and find more speed from myself when we start the TC Nationals this year. I find 1/12th scale is really good for your driving, as you have to be very precise which, in turn, can be applied to any from of racing. I feel the 12th Nationals and the Euros have improved my driving and my approach to a race weekend.
Well done to Juho on winning the modified title, he is a great driver and never seems to get rattled by anything, the more I get to know him the more I learn from him, which is good for me with TC Euros and Worlds coming up later this year.
The Associated Team at the 1/12th Euro Finals.
Also very well done to my fellow Brit Chris Kerswell. Chris is always fast but sometimes not the most consistent, that weekend he kept it together and delivered a brilliant result so hats-off to him. Another big well done to Keith Robertson for third in the Spec Class A. Keith helped me a lot with my 1:12 racing when I first started and it was good to see him getting a top result. A few of my fellow countrymen struggled and will be happy to put this event behind them.
For me, overall I enjoyed the experience. It's made me decide to enter this years 1:12 Worlds! A whole new level of 1:12 racing to squeeze in too! Domestically its one more national and the R5 gets put into hibernation for the summer.
